Tuesday, Dec 24, 2002
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Billiards & Snooker
By Kirti Patil
Uma, runner-up at the last Nationals in Ahmedabad, overcame a stiff challenge from Karnataka's M. Chitra in the first semifinal before winning 36-62, 70-59, 61-36, 35-75, 77-48. On the side table, Vidya rallied from 2-1 down, after having won the first frame, and bested a tediously-slow Neeta Sanghvi 79-37, 40-69, 60-62, 59-53, 62-24. Chitra was on a high after sheer luck had favoured her entry into the quarterfinals. But, this morning she left nothing to chance. Potting with confidence, Chitra thrashed the 2001 winner, Anuja, 3-0. With such a track record behind her, Chitra started the semifinal on a positive note against Uma Devi. She won the first frame 62-36 and was neck-and-neck in the second before Uma took over. Uma made a break of 28 with black-black blue-blue clearance to go ahead. Chitra responded bravely with a break of 30, a pink-black pink-black combination, to close in the gap. But she gave four away points after having got snooked herself. Uma picked up from that point and went on to clear the table. She won the third frame before Chitra levelled the frame scores. The decider was evenly poised, but Uma was lucky to get better ball positions after both tried to make use of snooks. The second semifinal turned out to be a marathon. In four-and-a-half hour encounter, fortunes changed on either side before Vidya potted the winning ball. Neeta virtually gifted the match to Vidya when she literally lost the touch in the fourth frame despite leading. Coming from a frame down, Neeta had made fantastic comeback by winning the next two. In the fourth, Neeta was leading by 34 points when the things started moving in favour of Vidya. She snooked the cue ball to perfection and earned several away points and finally potted the black to scrape past 59-53. Vidya was in a different league in the decider. She made breaks of 15 with black and blue combination and then added a 20 with a blend of brown-pink-black. Vidya led by 38 points with five colour balls remaining on the table when Neeta finally decided to give up the contest. The quarterfinals witnessed some interesting contests between Vidya and Meenal Thakur, and between Neeta and Heena Khandelwal. Vidya, who gave a vastly improved performance, beat the Maharashtra third seed 25-58, 61-48, 53-45, 64-35. Neeta lived dangerously before defeating Heena 60-52, 69-27, 48-47. In the Junior men's snooker qualifying tournament, Vishal Aggarwal of Andhra Pradesh made it to the main draw. Vishal defeated P. R. Shivkumar of Karnataka 78-34, 45-67, 64-10, 56-13, in the qualification round at the nearby Amar Singh Club. The results: Women: Semifinals: R. Uma Devi (Kar) bt M. Chitra (Kar) 36-62, 70-59, 61-36, 35-75, 77-48; Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) 79-37, 40-69, 60-62, 59-53, 62-24. Quarterfinals: Uma bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 66-52, 72-18, 57-23; Chitra bt Anuja Thakur (Mah) 82-53, 57-33, 56-38; Vidya bt Meenal Thakur (Mah) 25-58, 61-48, 53-45, 64-35; Neeta bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 60-52, 69-27, 48-47. Junior men (qualifying): Qualifying round: Vishal Aggarwal (AP) bt P. R. Shivkumar (Kar) 78-34, 45-67, 64-10, 56-13. Third round: Vishal bt Vaibhav Punvatkar (Mah) 84-16, 75-7, 42-45, 82-17; Shivkumar bt Sunny Chaddha (Del) 57-38, 71-25, 73-19; Amandeep bt Karan Sharda (Mah) 56-46, 65-16, 49-54, 54-5; Younis bt Akshay Gohad (Mah) 75-45, 67-49, 64-49. Second round: Karan bt Deep Singh (M.P.) 33-57, 36-71, 55-17, 56-19, 73-33; Amandeep bt Aparajit Mittal (Mah) 59-40, 32-62, 71-32, 79-15.
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